"We're having the first computer-generated comic strip in the United States"
About this Quote
The specific intent is promotional and evangelical. “We’re having” frames it as a communal event, not a niche experiment; it invites the audience to join a milestone, not merely consume a product. “First” does the heavy lifting, turning a technical process into cultural capital. The phrase “computer-generated” is the star. In an era when computers still carried a whiff of institutional power - labs, defense contracts, corporate mainframes - importing that aura into comics signals legitimacy, novelty, and inevitability. It’s less “look at this strip” than “watch a medium evolve.”
The subtext is faith in automation as creativity’s next co-author, with a faint competitive edge: America staking a flag in a new kind of entertainment manufacturing. There’s also an unspoken anxiety baked in. If a computer can generate a comic strip, what else can it generate? Barrett’s buoyant tone works as a pressure valve, smoothing over the threat with showbiz optimism.
Context matters: Barrett wasn’t just any actress; she functioned as a living bridge between science-fiction’s imagined technologies and the real-world gadgets audiences were learning to trust. The line sells progress as spectacle, and it works because it makes innovation feel like something you can laugh at - and therefore live with.
Quote Details
| Topic | Technology |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Barrett, Majel. (2026, January 17). We're having the first computer-generated comic strip in the United States. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/were-having-the-first-computer-generated-comic-49284/
Chicago Style
Barrett, Majel. "We're having the first computer-generated comic strip in the United States." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/were-having-the-first-computer-generated-comic-49284/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"We're having the first computer-generated comic strip in the United States." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/were-having-the-first-computer-generated-comic-49284/. Accessed 13 Feb. 2026.